THE EPICS OF CHINA

THE EPICS OF CHINA PDF Author: Rinchindorji
Publisher: American Academic Press
ISBN: 1631816608
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
The Epics of China introduces selected epic traditions of China, providing information about them, insights into their literary traditions, and theories concerning their origins, historical development, cultural context, structure, bards, and audiences. The book deals with both historical epics and contemporary “living” epic traditions. Examples are drawn from several of China’s fifty-five official ethnic minority peoples, focusing on epics from various historical or present-day Mongol subgroups of North China, most notably Tibetan and Kirgiz, as well as epics from peoples of Southwest China, such as the Zhuang, Yi, Miao, Dong, and Dai. Several chapters deal, too, with the early Turkic epics that once circulated in parts of northern China and Central Asia. On the whole, the book’s chapters are grouped into three sections: early epics, small and medium-length epics, and the great heroic epics Jangar and Manas. Epics from the North are mainly heroic narratives focusing on the exploits of martial heroes. They feature story lines centered on bride-kidnapping, trials undergone by the suitor, and encounters with multi-headed demons (Mongol mangus), one-eyed giants, and female demons of the underworld. Southern epics focus on tales of how early deities created the sky, earth, water and land forms, and living beings, often listing specific plants, animals, and local tribes. Some of these epics involve female creator figures, and many play out in a dynamic process that moves through phases of initial creation, destruction by fire, a second creation, a destructive flood, and the ultimate re-creation of the world as we now know it. There are also heroic epics from southern China, most notably from the Yi, Dai, and Miao.

THE EPICS OF CHINA

THE EPICS OF CHINA PDF Author: Rinchindorji
Publisher: American Academic Press
ISBN: 1631816608
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 508

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Epics of China introduces selected epic traditions of China, providing information about them, insights into their literary traditions, and theories concerning their origins, historical development, cultural context, structure, bards, and audiences. The book deals with both historical epics and contemporary “living” epic traditions. Examples are drawn from several of China’s fifty-five official ethnic minority peoples, focusing on epics from various historical or present-day Mongol subgroups of North China, most notably Tibetan and Kirgiz, as well as epics from peoples of Southwest China, such as the Zhuang, Yi, Miao, Dong, and Dai. Several chapters deal, too, with the early Turkic epics that once circulated in parts of northern China and Central Asia. On the whole, the book’s chapters are grouped into three sections: early epics, small and medium-length epics, and the great heroic epics Jangar and Manas. Epics from the North are mainly heroic narratives focusing on the exploits of martial heroes. They feature story lines centered on bride-kidnapping, trials undergone by the suitor, and encounters with multi-headed demons (Mongol mangus), one-eyed giants, and female demons of the underworld. Southern epics focus on tales of how early deities created the sky, earth, water and land forms, and living beings, often listing specific plants, animals, and local tribes. Some of these epics involve female creator figures, and many play out in a dynamic process that moves through phases of initial creation, destruction by fire, a second creation, a destructive flood, and the ultimate re-creation of the world as we now know it. There are also heroic epics from southern China, most notably from the Yi, Dai, and Miao.

The Homeric Epics and the Chinese Book of Songs

The Homeric Epics and the Chinese Book of Songs PDF Author: Fritz-Heiner Mutschler
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527523799
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 509

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Book Description
The Homeric epics and the Book of Songs are not just the fountainheads of the Western and Chinese literary traditions; for centuries they played a central role in education and communal life, and thus exercised a lasting influence on both civilizations. This volume presents the first systematic comparison of the two corpora. Part One analyzes their genesis and their reception, while Part Two discusses their characteristics as poetic creations. The book brings together Chinese and Western sinologists and classicists, and so promotes significant interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue. Though the contributors rank among the leading experts in their fields, the essays here are accessible not only to their peers, but also to the interested ‘general reader’, and so to all those who seek a deeper understanding of Chinese and Western civilizations, their common human basis and their characteristic differences.

Great Wall of China

Great Wall of China PDF Author: Carla Mooney
Publisher: Carson-Dellosa Publishing
ISBN: 1634306090
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
In Great Wall of China, readers will explore the use of super structures around the world and how they have shaped future technological advancements. This title is the perfect blend of historical content and STEM engagement, and makes a great addition to library collections at home or at school. The Engineering Wonders series takes readers on a historical journey and focuses on the construction of amazing man-made structures and their effects on society. Each 48-page title features full-color photographs, fascinating sidebars, a timeline, a glossary, a list of websites, and comprehension and extension questions. This series engages learners while also reinforcing concepts and helping them strengthen their reading comprehension skills

Tools and Treasures of Ancient China

Tools and Treasures of Ancient China PDF Author: Candice Ransom
Publisher: Lerner Digital ™
ISBN: 1512476439
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and text highlighting for an engaging read aloud experience! Have you ever worn silk? Eaten Rice? Used a calendar? All these things came from ancient China. More than two thousand years ago, the ancient Chinese invented tools and treasures that still shape our lives. Find out where the ancient Chinese lived, what their lives were like, and what happened to them. Discover how they changed the world!

Ancient China

Ancient China PDF Author: Emily Rose Oachs
Publisher: Bellwether Media
ISBN: 1618918508
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
The modern world still benefits from the inventions of ancient China! Modern paper, compasses, and kites are just a few things this society created. In this book, readers will explore what life was like in ancient China, including how people lived, worked, and ruled. Profiles introduce readers to ancient Chinese gods and leaders, and other special features explore cause and effect, compare two different times and places, and offer a timeline of important events!

Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom

Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom PDF Author: Stephen R. Platt
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0307271730
Category : Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 514

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Book Description
A gripping account of China's nineteenth-century Taiping Rebellion, one of the largest civil wars in history. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom brims with unforgettable characters and vivid re-creations of massive and often gruesome battles--a sweeping yet intimate portrait of the conflict that shaped the fate of modern China. The story begins in the early 1850s, the waning years of the Qing dynasty, when word spread of a major revolution brewing in the provinces, led by a failed civil servant who claimed to be the son of God and brother of Jesus. The Taiping rebels drew their power from the poor and the disenfranchised, unleashing the ethnic rage of millions of Chinese against their Manchu rulers. This homegrown movement seemed all but unstoppable until Britain and the United States stepped in and threw their support behind the Manchus: after years of massive carnage, all opposition to Qing rule was effectively snuffed out for generations. Stephen R. Platt recounts these events in spellbinding detail, building his story on two fascinating characters with opposing visions for China's future: the conservative Confucian scholar Zeng Guofan, an accidental general who emerged as the most influential military strategist in China's modern history; and Hong Rengan, a brilliant Taiping leader whose grand vision of building a modern, industrial, and pro-Western Chinese state ended in tragic failure. This is an essential and enthralling history of the rise and fall of the movement that, a century and a half ago, might have launched China on an entirely different path into the modern world.

The Story of China

The Story of China PDF Author: Michael Wood
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250202582
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
A single volume history of China, offering a look into the past of the global superpower and its significance today. Michael Wood has travelled the length and breadth of China, the world’s oldest civilization and longest lasting state, to tell a thrilling story of intense drama, fabulous creativity, and deep humanity that stretches back thousands of years. After a century and a half of foreign invasion, civil war, and revolution, China has once again returned to center stage as a global superpower and the world’s second largest economy. But how did it become so dominant? Wood argues that in order to comprehend the great significance of China today, we must begin with its history. The Story of China takes a fresh look at the Middle Kingdom in the light of the recent massive changes inside the country. Taking into account exciting new archeological discoveries, the book begins with China’s prehistory—the early dynasties, the origins of the Chinese state, and the roots of Chinese culture in the age of Confucius. Wood looks at particular periods and themes that are now being reevaluated by historians, such as the renaissance of the Song with its brilliant scientific discoveries. He paints a vibrant picture of the Qing Empire in the 18th century, just before the European impact, a time when China’s rich and diverse culture was at its height. Then, Wood explores the encounter with the West, the Opium Wars, the clashes with the British, and the extraordinarily rich debates in the late 19th century that pushed China along the path to modernity. Finally, he provides a clear up-to-date account of post-1949 China, including revelations about the 1989 crisis based on newly leaked inside documents, and fresh insights into the new order of President Xi Jinping. All woven together with landscape history and the author’s own travel journals, The Story of China is the indispensable book about the most intriguing and powerful country on the world stage today.

Ancient China Inside Out

Ancient China Inside Out PDF Author: Kelly Spence
Publisher: Ancient Worlds Inside Out
ISBN: 9780778728689
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This fascinating book explores the culture and achievements of ancient China through the examination of artifacts that have survived through the centuries. Each primary-source artifact offers the reader significant clues to the civilization's technologies, cultural traditions, foods, and conflicts. Teacher's guide available.

Cultural Traditions in China

Cultural Traditions in China PDF Author: Lynn Peppas
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780778775843
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This intriguing book describes how the traditions, beliefs, and rituals of people across the vast country of China are observed in the many different festivals celebrated today. Young readers will also learn how the Chinese people celebrate family occasions.

Great Wall of China

Great Wall of China PDF Author: Elizabeth Raum
Publisher: Ancient Wonders
ISBN: 9781622432400
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Describes the Great Wall of China, including how and why it was built, the dynasties behind its construction, what it was used for, and what it's like today.